Daisy Mae (front) and Betty Paige dogs belonging to Linda Salazar and Ursula Raines participate in a a pooch parade during the Seventh annual Kite Festival and Dog Fair "Fest of Tails" at McAllister Park, March 16, 2013. less

Daisy Mae (front) and Betty Paige dogs belonging to Linda Salazar and Ursula Raines participate in a a pooch parade during the Seventh annual Kite Festival and Dog Fair "Fest of Tails" at McAllister Park, ... more

Photo: Steve Faulisi, San Antonio Express-News

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7 year-old Langston Strable of San Antonio maneuvers his kite into the wind during the Seventh annual Kite Festival and Dog Fair "Fest of Tails" at McAllister Park, March 16, 2013.

7 year-old Langston Strable of San Antonio maneuvers his kite into the wind during the Seventh annual Kite Festival and Dog Fair "Fest of Tails" at McAllister Park, March 16, 2013.

Photo: Steve Faulisi, San Antonio Express-News

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Kites belonging to the American Kite Flying Association are tethered in flight during the Seventh annual Kite Festival and Dog Fair "Fest of Tails" at McAllister Park, March 16, 2013

Kites belonging to the American Kite Flying Association are tethered in flight during the Seventh annual Kite Festival and Dog Fair "Fest of Tails" at McAllister Park, March 16, 2013

Photo: Steve Faulisi, San Antonio Express-News

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Kite tails and wagging tails out for 7th annual festival

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With a band playing, kites whirring and diving overhead, and dozens of barking dogs adding to the cacophony, it was no wonder J.R. Ramirez, 2, and his canine buddy were both getting overly excited.

“She's having way too good a time,” Anissa Ramirez said of her lunging German shorthair, while her son danced spontaneously nearby on the grass.

Meanwhile, her husband Chris worked feverishly to get the new Rock Hopper Penguin kite assembled and airborne.

“It's a family thing. We're just enjoying our first son and our first dog,” said Chris, one eye on the directions.

Welcome to the Fest of Tails, an annual celebration of families, kites and dogs that draws thousands to McAllister Park on the third Saturday of each March. And this year, the skies were clear, and the breeze was perfect for kite-flying.

“This is our seventh year, and it gets bigger each year. By the end of the day, I expect 4,000 to 5,000 people to have come,” said Ray Knox, the chairman of the event which is co-sponsored by the San Antonio Friends of the Parks and the city's Department of Parks and Recreation.

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“Our main thing is to get families out on a spring day and have fun,” he added.

Knox said only rain or absence of wind can put a damper on the event, and from the looks of things Saturday morning, with dozens of kites fluttering buoyantly overhead, it was going to be a successful day.

“We've got enough wind to get the big kites up and too much to blow over the canopies,” Knox said.

The three dozen booths offered almost everything in the way of dog and kite accoutrements, from kite kits to garlic-flavored dog snacks to dog cremation plans. There were even dogs available for adoption.

But even something as wholesome and harmless as a kite festival can provide drama.

When the winds shifted, the largest kite in the sky, a 90-foot-long rainbow colored manta ray model had to be brought down quickly and moved about 50 yards to avoid it getting tangled with another large kite.

And in the few moments when the giant kite was not moored with 2,000-pound test rope to a parked car, things had the potential to get interesting.

While several people kept a firm grip on the kite, others quickly raced to tie it down in the new spot.

“He's holding the (kite's) mouth shut so it doesn't self-launch. It could lift a person easily, so you don't want to have just a person holding it,” said Gayle Woodul, of Marble Falls, the vice-president of the American Kite Flying Association, the kite's owner.

“If that kite goes airborne, we'd have to let it go,” she advised.

Fortunately, that tricky maneuver was accomplished without mishap, and the huge inflatable kite was soon again hovering over the field, tied securely to a gold Cadillac.